The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Henin-Hardenne makes successful return

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 16, 2004

Sport

Sport - Olympic Games

Henin-Hardenne makes successful return

ATHENS, AUG. 15. Top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne, returning after a four-month absence, overcame three adversaries to advance to the second round of the Olympic tennis tournament on Sunday — a bout of nerves, high winds and opponent Barbora Strycova.

A nervous Henin-Hardenne, who has not played since crashing out in the second round of the French Open, was broken in her opening game against the Czech but soon regained control of her emotions to rally back to a 6-3, 6-4 win on the wind-swept centre court.

``Even if I was nervous, I had good feelings on the court,'' Henin-Hardenne said. ``I feel finally healthy.

``If I play well or badly, win or lose, that's not the most important thing. I feel I can do my job again, my passion, and that's the most important right now.''

Henin-Hardenne was weakened by an energy-sapping blood virus she had been unable to shake since April.

Novak stuns Henman

Fourth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain was upset in the men's first round losing 6-3, 6-3 to Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.

It was another Summer Games disappointment for Henman, who also lost his opening singles match at the 2000 Sydney Games and was beaten in the second round at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The 27th-ranked Novak's next opponent will be Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who eliminated Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-2, 6-2.

The results: Men: singles: first round: Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Yen Hsun Lu (Tai) 6-3, 6-3; Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Robin Soderling (Swe) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Lee Hyung-taik (S.Kor) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Andy Roddick (U.S.) bt Flavio Saretta (Bra) 6-3, 7-6 (4); Max Mirnyi (Blr) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) 3-6, 7-6 (0), 6-4; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Hicham Arazi (Mor) 6-3, 6-1; Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Gregory Carraz (Fra) 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-5; Jiri Novak (Czech) bt Tim Henman (G.Br) 6-3, 6-3; Sebatien Grosjean (Fra) bt Luis Horna (Peru) 6-2, 7-5; Marat Safin (Rus) bt Karol Kucera (Svk) 6-0, 6-4; Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Vladimir Voltchkov (Blr) 6-2, 6-4; Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Konstantinos Economidis (Gre) 7-6 (6), 6-2; Wayne Arthurs (Aus) bt Victor Hanescu (Rom) 6-4, 7-6 (6); Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel) 6-2, 6-2; Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Mario Ancic (Cro) 6-1, 7-5. Women: singles: first round: Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Petra Mandula (Hun) 6-3, 6-4; Cho Yoon-jeong (S.Kor) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 7-6 (1), 6-1;

Venus Williams (U.S.) bt Melinda Czink (Hun) 6-1, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Zheng Jie (Chn) 4-6, 6-3, 8-6; Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Claudine Schaul (Lux) 6-1, 6-1; Francesca Schivaone (Ita) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) 6-3, 7-6 (4); Angelique Widjaja (Ina) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 1-6, 6-2, 6-1; Fabiola Zuluaga (Col) bt Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-4, 6-1; Maja Matevzic (Svk) bt Saori Obata (Jpn) 7-6 (3), 7-5; Maria Vento-Kabchi (Ven) bt Anne Kremer (Lux) 6-3, 6-4. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport